Former “Good Times” star BernNadette Stanis is adding further context to her initial reaction to the new reboot series dropping this week.
“Good Times” was created by writers Mike Evans, Eric Monte, and produced by “All In The Family” creator Norman Lear. The popular sitcom about a Black family living in Chicago ran for six seasons also starring John Amos, the late Esther Rolle, Ralph Carter and Ja’Net DuBois.
But Stanis says her co-star Jimmie Walker pitched a cartoon version of the 1970s sitcom before Sony made the current animated version premiering April 12 on Netflix.
An animated “Good Times” reboot was recently announced by the studio, and Stanis told The Hollywood Reporter last week that she “thought it was going to be different.”
She revealed she has further concerns after revealing Walker pitched the idea to executives at Lear’s office nearly four years ago, but they never heard back. The new version has been widely criticized since the trailer dropped two weeks ago, boasting several negative stereotypes about the Black community.
Stanis told TMZ she was told that the new version would be “progressive” and feature new characters.
“Jimmy Walker uh did contact Norman’s office in 2020, and um he pitched a ‘Good Times’ cartoon, which would include every — all of us except for Esther Rolle,” said Stanis. Rolle, who played mother Florida Evans, passed away in 1998.
“We didn’t hear anything back from them, but a few months later, or I think six months later, they came up and said they have a cartoon — Sony said had a cartoon coming,” she continued. “So, my manager called up Norman’s office to see if it’s, if we, if we were included. I mean if, if you’re going to do that, you know, let us know. So, uh, they said, ‘Oh no. It’s going to be generations later and it’s going to be like progressive or whatever.'”
Stanis added that she was told she’d have a small role in the reboot but noted that the new version does not seem “progressive” as she was told.
“When you see something that, that actually is not progressive, it kind of brings you back into the projects two generations later? Um so, Thelma had a baby. What happened to that baby? Um, I wanted to be a surgeon,” she continued. “I guess I was J.J. was a famous artist, so you have positive images generations before that, and then all of a sudden you see this, you know?”
“I’m not knocking it, because I don’t know what the whole show is going to be,” added Stanis. “Maybe they’ll bring it, lean it more back … to a more positive situation. But when you have the name ‘Good Times’ on top of that, our audience of 40 or 50 years have been really in our corner, you know. They’ve always supported us, so they were disappointed that they didn’t have it more progressive as the way I was told it would be.”
Stanis added that she was at Lear’s 100 birthday party in 2022, where she asked him about the reboot, and he seemed to not understand her. Lear passed away in 2023 at the age of 101.
“I love Norman, and I do believe that he maybe was told the same thing I was told,” she added. “I don’t know, but you know … Hey, because he only produced quality work, so, I got to say on his behalf.”
She said, “I don’t know if he really understood what it was going to be about, or he just knew it was going to be a cartoon for ‘Good Times,’ because like everyone else, you think of ‘Good Times,’ you think you have the title on there, you automatically think of us.”
Dyn-O-Mite! The Cast of Good Times 1974 #backintheday pic.twitter.com/RHdP4SJr6x
— Sluts and Guts (@sluts_guts) May 31, 2023
The animated version of the show features voiceovers from actors Yvette Nicole Brown, J.B. Smoove, Jay Pharoah, Marsai Martin, and Gerald “Slink” Johnson. Stephen Curry and Seth MacFarlane executive produced the show, and Ranada Shepard is the showrunner.
